Relatives mourn Oleksandr Mozheiko, 31, territorial defence soldier who was killed by Russian army on March 5, during his funeral in Irpin, Kyiv, on Friday. AP

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force, said the bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% died from gunshot wounds.

"Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Nebytov said. More bodies are being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves, he added.

"The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses,” he said.

Local residents react in front of destroyed houses in the village of Korolivka, Kyiv. AFP

A team of experts from the forensic department of France's national gendarmerie has been working for several days to examine and identify those buried in the largest mass grave found to date in the devastated town. The alleged violence by invading Russian forces in Bucha has shocked the world.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were "tracking down” people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

Bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine. AFP

Mariupol’s mayor said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities against civilians like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.

The Mariupol City Council said on Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies that were buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials "of people killed by them.”

"Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown,” the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

Agencies